65

Last night we had our 7th soccer game against a team that we have played 3 times, we lost, but the score was only 2-1; the previous game the score was 6-0, so my team is improving, it may be slow, but we are making big improvements. After we played them last week, my daughter comes up to me and says, Daddy, Jimmy (not the kids real name) called me a B (Bitch). I thought I heard him say it from the sideline, but I brushed it off. Now that she told me and 3 of her teammates confirm it, it only solidified my suspicions. This same kid that called her a (B) bitch also lives in our neighborhood. So, me being the responsible parent I thought that I was being, I went to talk to his parents. His mother comes to the door and I introduce myself and explain to her the reason why I stopped by. She says to me, that it couldn’t be her son, because he doesn’t talk like that. I told her that I heard him say it and I was standing on the sideline and 3 of the players on her team confirmed her statement. She then brings her husband to the door, as if I was supposed to be scared or something, and I explain to him the same situation. He also says to me, it couldn’t have been Jimmy because he doesn’t talk like that around the house, but we will talk to him about it. Now I want you as the reader to put yourself in my position, you hear it from your daughter. You hear it from the sideline and from 3 of your players confirmed it, and you want me to believe that he didn’t say it? Come on people, I may be from Alabama, but I’m far from stupid.

Last night we played this same team, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post and this same kid calls her a bitch again. I yelled from the sideline so everyone could hear me, that if one more person on this soccer field calls my daughter out of her name again, we are going to have some issues. Well, last night, the father of the accused kid was there. He said I know he didn’t say it, because I didn’t hear him say it. Of course you’re not going to hear it, because your on the opposite side of the field of play, which is near my goal post. So what my daughter and 5 kids from my team are making all this up and it happens to be the same kid that called her a B (Bitch) last week. Again, me being a parent as well as a coach I went to the opposing coach and said to him that if your players continue to trash talk and use curse words to my players we are going to walk off the field, because that’s not how my players are taught to conduct themselves and they aren’t taught that way of play. He then calls the accused kid to the sideline and asks him if he called anyone on the field a B (bitch), and of course he replies, No I didn’t call anyone that. Of course he is going to deny it to his coach with his father standing right there. I said, I know what I heard and I believe what I heard and what 5 of my players confirmed.

After the game, all the players lined up and said good game and all that good stuff, then as I go to turn around to go to talk to my team, the coach from the opposing team stops me and says to the accused kid, don’t you have something to say to him? I look at the coach and look back at the kid, the coach says that I accused him of calling my daughter a Bitch, but you didn’t say it, so that coach owes you an apology. I looked at the coach in confusion and said, I don’t owe him a damn apology. I myself, nor did any of my players do anything wrong. The director of the Recreation department was out there, because every team that plays this team always has an incident like this or have the coaches yelling from the sideline, you better not let that girl beat you or if that girl beats you, I’m going to make you run a specific number of laps after the game or practice. First of all, unless I am wrong, I will not apologize to a child and Secondly, because you are the coach that doesn’t believe in teaching your players good sportsmanship, don’t get mad at me.

It was also frustrating that I could hear the trash talking from the opposing team and see them getting away with hand balls and tripping, but as soon as one of my players did it, the infraction was immediately brought up by one of the opposing coaches. I said to myself okay, you want to play like that I can play that game also. If I had to walk to the middle of the field to stop the play for my players to get fair treatment that’s exactly what I did, because I thought it was the right thing to do. I did lose my temper, because I let this piece of crap coach get to me, but at the end of the game, I did apologize to my players for acting out and that we will not play like they do.

At the end of the day, we are doing this for the children. No one is being paid and no one is going to have a scout come from some Division 1 school come to scout a 10 or 11 year old. What I told my team at the beginning of the season, that when it gets to the point when you are not having fun anymore then we will not continue to play. Don’t think that I am not telling my kids to play aggressive, but there has to be a line where coaches need to get involved and make sure that the game is played fairly. I told my team that we have to play these guys one more time before the season ends and if they continue to play the way they are playing, we are walking off the field. I told my kids that by us walking off the field we are not being cowards or giving up, it’s to show that coach and his players that the way they play is wrong. My oldest daughter fell and before she could get up one of the opposing players was tripped by her leg and the referee called a penalty on my daughter for tripping. I almost lost my mind. I’m sure you guys have gotten the point that I am trying to get you to see. It’s not about the parents or the coaches, it’s all about the children. Just let them have fun.

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2 thoughts on “65”

Well Coach Gober…..unlike the other coach, you have disipline from your military background…….as well as having a MENTOR to look up to, a man of high standards, a man that was the best coach in history of college football! All Alabamians know what high standards he held! So next time in are in that sort of situation, just ask yourself “What would Paul “Bear” Bryant do?”; and you cannot go wrong!